I believe that this upper room became headquarters for them during the entire 50-day period after our Lords resurrection. In days gone by, I have sided with those who found the selection of Matthias as an example of fleshly action hastily taken. They'd likely not seen it. And He opened their understanding that they might comprehend the Scriptures.". Ascension and Pentecost - The liturgical year - BBC Bitesize What Did Christ Teach the Disciples Before Pentecost? Day of Pentecost And Skepticisms In addition, anyone who wants to share the Bible with others can print unlimited copies and give them away free to others. What we are seeing here is again, the power of the Word of God. 1 When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. What they needed was power, power to proclaim the gospel so that men would believe and be saved. Consider this question, with what we have just read: how could people filled with doubt, even a measure of unbelief, fear, general fear, intense fear, heightened fear, abject fearfear takes many different forms and guises; sometimes we can control our fear, sometimes it overcomes us and we're just shaking in our bootshow could a people dealing with all of these emotions during this 50-day period of time be expected to do what Jesus told them here in verse 8, they would do, when they have problems figuring it all out at that particular moment? As the writer to the Hebrews constantly emphasized, the New Covenant is vastly superior to the Old. And we can have the power to believe that, and to grow together and develop together as a bride of Christ, and accomplish His work and His purpose and His will. Some say that they wound up in the temple precincts; could very well be. Finally, verses 15-26 are the account of the selection of Matthias as the twelfth apostle, a replacement for Judas. Articles that are published in our magazine or scripting for our television programs goes through a very, very thorough review process. He and his wife, Debbie, have served in the ministry for more than 43years. It was the Roman soldiers that had carried out the death of Christ and had sealed the tomb and a Roman guard had been placed there. And therein, lies a key to the understanding of what had taken place with these individuals here. They were alone. Why did the apostles speak of the coming of the kingdom of God as its being restored? Luke then tells his readers that these two men were sent out by the Holy Spirit. We get on to verse 40, the wrap-up: "With many other words, he testified and exhorted them saying, Be saved from this perverse generation, that those who were, who gladly received his word were baptized; about 3,000 souls were added to them. BBC - Religions - Christianity: Pentecost Labor in the Word, meaning to read the Word, and to learn it, and to soak it in and drink it in; and to live the Word, this past year. My point here is that Luke links the ministry of the Holy Spirit in the life of our Lord in the Gospels to the ministry of the Holy Spirit in the life of the church in Acts. Instead, He would come and go. ), Two angels suddenly appear near them. He understood that, and again, He is just laying it out that they were troubled and there was doubt. It goes on, verse 12, "After that, He appeared in another form to two of them as they walked and went into the country." Acts is not the account of God choosing the best and most talented and godly people on the face of the earth, so that He can accomplish the Great Commission. That is what we shall seek to discover in our study. But they were terrified, and frightened, and supposed they had seen a spirit." Ascension | Description, Significance, Feast, & Art | Britannica 2. Preparation for Pentecost (Acts 1:1-26) | Bible.org And then there came a time, in verse 4, where they were assembled together with Him and He commanded them not to depart from Jerusalem but to wait for the promise of the Father, which He said, "You have heard from Me, for John truly baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.". If you keep yourselves from doing these things, you will do well. The "before" and "after" theme is found frequently in the media. This page is best viewed in an up-to-date web browser with style sheets (CSS) enabled. If we can make that decision and live with that reality that there is a God who lives, and before Him we stand every single day of our life and every major decision, every small decision of character, and the decisions that we make in the privacy of our own mind, and in our own actions that not everyone knows about, not even our mate, all are in accordance with righteousness and a desire for righteousness. Simply because there were 10 days of waiting, watching, and praying before Something Big happened to the church. Not many days, we would look at it roughly 10 days from that 40-day period. Four fishermen - Peter, Andrew, James and John - are landing their catch when they are approached by Jesus. He said He wouldn't and He didn't, even though there was a moment in time when they thought that they were orphaned, as they stood gazing up and looking and wondering, "What do we do next. The Holy Spirit would internally indict sinners regarding the righteousness of Christ because He cannot be seen any longer. That's what this day is all about as a firstfruit. It is the Spirit of God working through weak and even foolish (in the eyes of the world) men that reveals the power of God, and brings glory to Him, not us: 26 Think about the circumstances of your call, brothers and sisters. "And they looked steadfastly in toward heaven," verse 10, "as He went up, and behold two men stood by them in white apparel." He was the one who was the leader of that doubt and fear and terrified approach, because he denied Christ three times, and he had to be pointedly taught by Jesus.